- Reaction score
- 1,284
- Points
- 1,160
Note that none of this has been broadcasted on ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, even though it was ABC's WH Reporter, Jonathan Karl original question. On FOX though.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/taliban-terrorists-white-house/story?id=28588120 See video at link
A White House spokesperson preferred to talk of the Taliban as “an armed insurgency” rather than a terrorist organization during a press briefing, when a reporter pressed him about Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s release.
Responding to a question posed by ABC’s chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl, deputy press secretary Eric Schultz argued the US can swap prisoners with the Taliban because the group is not a terrorist organization but “an armed insurgency.”
During the Wednesday briefing, Karl asked how the US decision to swap Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban leaders held at Guantanamo Bay differs from the Jordanian government’s trade of a convicted terrorist for the release of an Air Force pilot held by the Islamic State.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/taliban-terrorists-white-house/story?id=28588120 See video at link
They act like terrorists, they regularly kill civilians like terrorists, but the White House does not consider the Afghan Taliban to be a terrorist group.
“They do carry out tactics that are akin to terrorism. They do pursue terror attacks in an effort to try to advance their agenda,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest explained today, but “they have a different classification.”
The issue has come up because the White House insisted on Wednesday that a prisoner exchange between Jordan and ISIS would be different than the prisoner exchange the United States made last year with the Taliban to gain the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
“Our policy is that we don't pay ransom. We don't give concessions to terrorist organizations,” Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said Wednesday. “This is a longstanding policy that predates this administration. And it's also one that we've communicated to our friends and allies across the world.”
Schultz explained that the exchange the United States made with the Taliban -- releasing five Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in exchange for the release of Sgt. Bergdahl -- was consistent with that policy because the Taliban is an “armed insurgency” and not a terrorist organization.
In the latest round of verbal gymnastics over the Taliban, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki refused to categorize the murder of American civilians at Kabul International Airport an act of “terrorism.”
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/01/not-islamic-either-part-trois.php See short video at link.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack on Friday, which killed three civilian contractors working for the U.S. government and wounded one other. The gunman was reportedly a member of Afghan security forces who turned his weapon on his colleagues before being killed.
At Friday’s State Department briefing, Psaki was asked whether the U.S. government categorized the assault as terrorism.
“Obviously any attack that kills contractors – that kills individuals who are working there in harms way — is horrific and a tragedy,” she said. “But I’m not gonna put new labels on it today.”
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/01/not-islamic-either-part-quatre.php See video at link. This is how to conduct an interview!
Not Islamic either,
The Obama administration has dragged the Pentagon into its clown show on the Taliban and terrorism. Megyn Kelly devoted a segment to the swap of Bowe Bergdahl for the Taliban Five as well as the proper categorization of the Taliban last night on her FNC Kelly File show (full video below, eleven minutes long). Pentagon spokesman Admiral John Kirby appeared to respond to Kelly’s questions.
As to the Taliban, Kirby, asserted: “We consider them an armed insurgency…they aren’t considered a foreign terrorist organization.” What won’t he and his colleagues say? Is resignation not an option? Admiral Kirby faithfully toes the Obama administration line in a degrading cause.
Megyn Kelly tonight took on Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby about the news that one of the “Taliban Five” has made contact with terrorists since being freed from Guantanamo Bay.
“Can you assure the American people that these five guys do not pose any threat to the United States?” Kelly pressed.
Kirby insisted that the U.S. is working with Qatar to mitigate the threat, but Kelly questioned Kirby on how this man made contact with terrorists “if our protocols are so great.”
“Obviously, there’s a flaw in the system,” Kelly remarked.
But Kirby argued that the system in place allowed the U.S. to discover this re-engagement activity and that the assurances are working as they should.
“So we don’t shut down the opportunity for these five guys to make contact with other terrorists, we just have a system in place to know about it. But that’s a little disconcerting,” Kelly said.
“The Kelly File” host also pressed Kirby over the White House’s statements that the Taliban is an armed insurgency, not a terror group.
Kirby doubled down on those remarks, telling Kelly, “We consider them an armed insurgency […] they aren’t considered a foreign terrorist organization.”
Kirby told Kelly that the Defense Department is "fairly unapologetic" about swapping five Gitmo detainees for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. He reiterated that the U.S. does not negotiate with terrorists.
Kelly fired back, “You’re asking the American people to say, ‘This was OK because the State Department hadn’t labeled them a foreign terrorist organization even though the president of the United States and the commander-in-chief did label them a terrorist organization.'"
She continued, “The American people say, ‘Come on, you did it, you negotiated with terrorists, just admit it.’”
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/taliban-terrorists-white-house/story?id=28588120 See video at link
A White House spokesperson preferred to talk of the Taliban as “an armed insurgency” rather than a terrorist organization during a press briefing, when a reporter pressed him about Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s release.
Responding to a question posed by ABC’s chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl, deputy press secretary Eric Schultz argued the US can swap prisoners with the Taliban because the group is not a terrorist organization but “an armed insurgency.”
During the Wednesday briefing, Karl asked how the US decision to swap Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban leaders held at Guantanamo Bay differs from the Jordanian government’s trade of a convicted terrorist for the release of an Air Force pilot held by the Islamic State.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/taliban-terrorists-white-house/story?id=28588120 See video at link
They act like terrorists, they regularly kill civilians like terrorists, but the White House does not consider the Afghan Taliban to be a terrorist group.
“They do carry out tactics that are akin to terrorism. They do pursue terror attacks in an effort to try to advance their agenda,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest explained today, but “they have a different classification.”
The issue has come up because the White House insisted on Wednesday that a prisoner exchange between Jordan and ISIS would be different than the prisoner exchange the United States made last year with the Taliban to gain the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
“Our policy is that we don't pay ransom. We don't give concessions to terrorist organizations,” Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said Wednesday. “This is a longstanding policy that predates this administration. And it's also one that we've communicated to our friends and allies across the world.”
Schultz explained that the exchange the United States made with the Taliban -- releasing five Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in exchange for the release of Sgt. Bergdahl -- was consistent with that policy because the Taliban is an “armed insurgency” and not a terrorist organization.
In the latest round of verbal gymnastics over the Taliban, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki refused to categorize the murder of American civilians at Kabul International Airport an act of “terrorism.”
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/01/not-islamic-either-part-trois.php See short video at link.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack on Friday, which killed three civilian contractors working for the U.S. government and wounded one other. The gunman was reportedly a member of Afghan security forces who turned his weapon on his colleagues before being killed.
At Friday’s State Department briefing, Psaki was asked whether the U.S. government categorized the assault as terrorism.
“Obviously any attack that kills contractors – that kills individuals who are working there in harms way — is horrific and a tragedy,” she said. “But I’m not gonna put new labels on it today.”
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/01/not-islamic-either-part-quatre.php See video at link. This is how to conduct an interview!
Not Islamic either,
The Obama administration has dragged the Pentagon into its clown show on the Taliban and terrorism. Megyn Kelly devoted a segment to the swap of Bowe Bergdahl for the Taliban Five as well as the proper categorization of the Taliban last night on her FNC Kelly File show (full video below, eleven minutes long). Pentagon spokesman Admiral John Kirby appeared to respond to Kelly’s questions.
As to the Taliban, Kirby, asserted: “We consider them an armed insurgency…they aren’t considered a foreign terrorist organization.” What won’t he and his colleagues say? Is resignation not an option? Admiral Kirby faithfully toes the Obama administration line in a degrading cause.
Megyn Kelly tonight took on Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby about the news that one of the “Taliban Five” has made contact with terrorists since being freed from Guantanamo Bay.
“Can you assure the American people that these five guys do not pose any threat to the United States?” Kelly pressed.
Kirby insisted that the U.S. is working with Qatar to mitigate the threat, but Kelly questioned Kirby on how this man made contact with terrorists “if our protocols are so great.”
“Obviously, there’s a flaw in the system,” Kelly remarked.
But Kirby argued that the system in place allowed the U.S. to discover this re-engagement activity and that the assurances are working as they should.
“So we don’t shut down the opportunity for these five guys to make contact with other terrorists, we just have a system in place to know about it. But that’s a little disconcerting,” Kelly said.
“The Kelly File” host also pressed Kirby over the White House’s statements that the Taliban is an armed insurgency, not a terror group.
Kirby doubled down on those remarks, telling Kelly, “We consider them an armed insurgency […] they aren’t considered a foreign terrorist organization.”
Kirby told Kelly that the Defense Department is "fairly unapologetic" about swapping five Gitmo detainees for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. He reiterated that the U.S. does not negotiate with terrorists.
Kelly fired back, “You’re asking the American people to say, ‘This was OK because the State Department hadn’t labeled them a foreign terrorist organization even though the president of the United States and the commander-in-chief did label them a terrorist organization.'"
She continued, “The American people say, ‘Come on, you did it, you negotiated with terrorists, just admit it.’”
